Terraria

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http://www.terraria.org/
Picked this up off Steam yesterday and from what I've heard, it's getting pretty popular. It's essentially a side scrolling Minecraft, albiet considerably more complex despite lacking a third dimension. Like Minecraft, there's biomes but they function a bit differently. They've each got monsters unique to them, artifacts that can only be found in said biomes, and on top of that, there's usually some unique aspect to each one. The corruption for example, is basically a wasteland where you're bombarded with these weird flying monsters nonstop, as well as weird worm things that pop up from the ground. In addition, it'll actually spread and given enough time (which to be honest is a very long time), can overrun a considerably amount of the map unless you put sunflowers on the edges of the corruption (I still don't know how that works but hey, video game logic). I've logged about 8 hours in the game and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the game and I haven't even collected/crafted a fraction of the items yet.

There's multiplayer but right now the netcoding is kind of shitty. Wartorn and I tried getting a server up together but we couldn't get it working, although I was able to connect to a few servers hosted by some random people on 4chan but they were laggy as hell.

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Heh, also found this out when playing on a server last night. If you manage to summon the boss Eater of Worlds in a fairly confined tunnel, he'll usually get tied up in a knot. If you cut him up (which is kind of the point to the battle, keep separating him into smaller Eater of Worlds until there's nothing left of him) the tunnel essentially becomes a blender, killing any player that comes near him, regardless of how good their armor is.

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I played this for a few hours yesterday. I built a few houses, but the guide won't move into one of them, despite it having everything he needs. I also wish the enemies wouldn't spawn so much on the surface. I can't build when slimes keep attacking me.

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It plays quite differently. It's much more of an action game where items are acquired through crafting rather than the open world creative sandbox that is minecraft.

Pretty much. Building takes a back seat in the game and is more to attract various NPCs you can unlock by doing various tasks, such as acquiring a certain amount of cash or increasing your max health. It's also kind of necessary to fortify your house during "blood moons" which causes zombies to spawn continuously, break down the doors of your house, and attack any NPCs in their paths. Other than that, that's pretty much it as far as construction goes.

There's a lot more emphasis on exploration than Minecraft. There's also a lot more to see as you dig down too, and occasionally while digging you may come across a unique biome called an underground jungle where you can get some of the top tier equipment and resources for making extremely valuable gear.

Plus you can find some very useful artifacts underground that can help you access areas you normally wouldn't be able to get to such as floating islands. You also encounter different creatures for each biome you descend through, each of which is harder, unlike Minecraft where you simply run into the same skeletons, zombies, creepers, slimes, and spiders over and over again.

Also there's bosses. All three of them can be triggered through certain actions, although one them has a chance of appearing randomly at night.

I played this for a few hours yesterday. I built a few houses, but the guide won't move into one of them, despite it having everything he needs. I also wish the enemies wouldn't spawn so much on the surface. I can't build when slimes keep attacking me.

For an NPC to move in they need a room that's not directly connected to another NPC's room with a chair, a table, and a light source. If a room's connected directly to another room with a chair, table, and light source, an NPC will move into one of them but no NPC will move into the other. They also wander around during the day. They only really stay in their room at night. Also, as for the slimes, kill/build faster and make a sword as quickly as possible.

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The game is pretty fun, however I would be lying if I said I were not disappointed. I was really excited about the multiplayer aspect of the game. I even bought a 4-pack and gave the 3 extras to other members of Unidoom so I would have people to play with. Unfortunately the multiplayer is "set up a server and start a new client and get you and your friends to manually connect to it from IP" which barely works. I have only known one person to get it working. It wont let me connect to my own server by manually putting in my IP saying "the connection didn't respond." Oh and "localhost" doesn't work either. Same results with the friends I bought the extra games for. I asked about steamworks in #terraria and they said its a priority to get it implemented, but they don't have an estimate when.

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Will monsters attack and destroy the houses you make? And will they attack the other NPCs?

No monster will destroy anything. But Blood Moon zombies (as well as some other monsters if you build your fort in a different biome, such as skeletons in the underground) can batter open doors.

Except for the Guide, the tutorial NPC which everybody hates, NPCs are hurt by contact with a monster, just like you are too.

That said, given the limitations of the AI, it's quite simple to make zombie-proof forts:

As you can see here, the zombies can't reach the player or the NPCs. The only way for them to reach their destination would be to stick to the walls while climbing up the platforms, until they arrive at the top floor (not shown) and then drop down the central shaft. But they're mindlessly moving towards the player, so they jump down from the platforms and are left to wander around the lobby below.

The demon eyes here could potentially go up the tiny shortcut platform. They're able to move up a platform, but not down. If the shaft floor is solid you're completely safe, though.

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Each NPC wants their own room. It needs to be fully enclosed by solid blocks and doors, have background walls (other than natural dirt walls), and have at least one light source, one table and one chair.

Additionally, each NPC other than the guide has additional requirements. The merchant wants you to be rich (you have to keep at least 50 silver coins on yourself for a while), the nurse wants you to have found and used at least one lifegem (they're underground in heart crystals you have to break with a hammer), the dryad wants you to have defeated a boss monster, the arms merchant only arrives if you've got a gun (and kept it in your inventory for a while) and the demolitionist likewise needs you to have kept dynamite in your inventory for a while.

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For an NPC to move in they need a room that's not directly connected to another NPC's room with a chair, a table, and a light source. If a room's connected directly to another room with a chair, table, and light source, an NPC will move into one of them but no NPC will move into the other. They also wander around during the day. They only really stay in their room at night. Also, as for the slimes, kill/build faster and make a sword as quickly as possible.

I figured that out shortly after posting about it. I figured NPCs would go in their houses during the day, though. I made an iron sword, so the slimes can't touch me now.

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Each NPC wants their own room. It needs to be fully enclosed by solid blocks and doors, have background walls (other than natural dirt walls), and have at least one light source, one table and one chair.

Additionally, each NPC other than the guide has additional requirements. The merchant wants you to be rich (you have to keep at least 50 silver coins on yourself for a while), the nurse wants you to have found and used at least one lifegem (they're underground in heart crystals you have to break with a hammer), the dryad wants you to have defeated a boss monster, the arms merchant only arrives if you've got a gun (and kept it in your inventory for a while) and the demolitionist likewise needs you to have kept dynamite in your inventory for a while.

I've got several houses, all of which are fairly nice and hit every requirement, have gotten four lifegems so far, have had dynamite for hours, and have three gold coins. No clue what's going on...

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Alright, I've logged about 32 hours in Terraria and so far I've gotten most of the artifacts in the game, crafted two of the second to top tier armors, seen all the biomes, fought all three of the bosses, and unlocked all the NPCs. Not bad for a $10 game. Multiplayer is alright when it works but it's only really fun if you're playing it fresh, as in with new characters and a new world. If you log on to an existing server, most of the good stuff has usually been looted and there's really not much to do. Last server I joined the players had literally looted every single hellforge from the underworld and lined them up in a large building. I'm looking forward to whatever content they're adding in the future, especially if it includes new biomes with new enemies. Some Biomes with end bosses would be pretty cool too.